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Henry Addington
Sir '''Henry Albert Oswald Addington '''GCMT (11 April 3197– 31 October 3270) was a Terran colonial politician, university professor, political and social theorist, and philosopher who served as Prime Minister of the Terran Empire from 3262 to 3267. Before entering politics, he was a professor at Braunfels University on the frontier world of Temple in the Arcturus Stream during the late 3220s and 3230s, teaching history and political science from a Nationalist perspective. He rose to prominence in colonial politics in the early 3240s and became an MP for the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party in the 3252 Imperial general election. He was instated as Party Chairman in 3255 during a hotly-contested leadership vote between himself and George Rothschild. He led the party to electoral majorities in the 3257 and 3262 elections, and was appointed Prime Minister during the lead-up to the Great War. While an adept organiser and planner, he was unpopular with the Party leadership and much of the electorate and was dismissed from the Chairmanship by the Steering Committee in late 3266 and subsequently resigned as Prime Minister in February 3267. He went into retirement on the Outer Colonies world of Renner, the birthplace of National Humanism, intending to write and publish his memoirs. Addington was assassinated in late October 3270 by terrorists affiliated with the Terran People's Liberation Front, an armed revolutionary group associated with the banned Terran Communist Party. His legacy is hotly debated, with the majority opinion of both scholars and the public being that Addington was very capable with organisation and parliamentary politics, but was also uncharismatic, abrasive, and paranoid. His rise to power coincided with the final victory of the National Humanist movement and its "soft" revolution. However, he nearly brought about the Party's downfall by alienating its allies and, eventually, its highest leadership. His replacement by Prince Maximilian is viewed as a turning point in the Nationalist revolution that allowed it to come to its fruition and create the Republic out of the ashes of the empire. Nevertheless, his contributions to political and social theory in regards to National Humanist ideology are held in high esteem. Early life and education Henry Albert Oswald Addington was born on April 11th of 3197 to Courtney Jane Addington-Seymour (b. 3181) and Bastian James Addington (b. 3175) at the village hospital in Miretown on the mining colony of Halstrom in the Perseid Frontier. His father was the town's public notary, and his mother was an Army veteran, who would become chief of police of the town in 3207. Addington was home schooled until the age of seven, when he was enrolled late into the town's public elementary school. He tested into third grade-level classes. He was prepared to continue at the town's secondary school when tragedy struck in 3211. A race riot broke out on his homeworld. Halstrom was dominated by its minerals and metals mining industry, represented by Drake Industries which had exlusive rights for a period of one century on the world's commercial resource extraction. The company employed both human and alien miners to work the mines, but was increasingly making use of alien labourers. After a dispute over equalised benefits for the alien migrants, the human labourers went on strike in February, causing the company to employ almost exclusively alien migrant workers for its mining operations on Halstrom. Tensions boiled as the aliens felt intimidated by angry human workers, the human workers felt ignored by the company, and the human population felt overran by aliens. The tensions erupted when four alien workers were found lynched and hanging from a lamppost in the alien workers' reservation on 20 August. Perceiving the police as having done little to solve the lynchings, the aliens rioted and began looting the nearby city of Stromburg and killing human policemen and labour leaders. The riots escalated into full-scale and indiscriminate killings, rapes, looting, and arson, which spread outside of the major urban centre to outlying counties. On September 17, a gang of alien bandits marauded into Miretown and burned it to the ground. Courtney Addington, identified by collaborators as the town police chief, was raped and murdered. Bastian was shot trying to intervene. Henry hid under his bed while their cottage was ransacked and then set aflame. He barely escaped with his life, and hid thereafter in the swampy wetlands until the aliens moved on. The survivors were ushered into refugee camps organised by the planetary Army garrison. The riots were suppressed by a contingent of Imperial Marines in late September and early October. The riot leaders were summarily shot; all who participated were tried and hanged. Drake Industries agreed to concessions to the human workers, and gradually instated a policy of human-only employment by 3215. Henry Addington was placed into the care of the state at the Halstrom State Orphanarium from 3211 to 3213. He was transferred after the orphanarium's closure to the Central Rim Orphanarium in orbit of the planet Ravenna and lived there from 3213 to 3215. At age 17, he was belatedly placed into the foster care of Frances and Jeremy Lefbaum of the Arcturus Stream world of Temple. He tested in to the Braunfels University, an elite private academy with a focus on social sciences, in the summer of 3215. He began studies there and achieved his Master's degree in History on in April 3221, graduating summa cum laude. He undertook graduate studies at the university, coupled with correspondence courses with the University of Chicago on Earth, and earned a PhD in Political History in 3225. Academic Career Addington began his career in academia as an assistant professor of history at Clooney College, a state university in the city of Cloonerville on Temple. He worked there for two years, from 3225 to 3227, before being hired as an assistant professor at his alma mater. He received a promotion to associate professor in 3231, and became a tenured professor in 3236. During this time, he lectured primarily on Terran political history, military history, political science, and sociology.